Police called in over Rose piano dispute

The proof

The City of Brampton “official receipt” shows proceeds from the Mayor’s Gala totalling $100,000 were paid to the city in May 2005 to purchase the piano “for the Performing Arts Centre”, the name of the venue before it was re-dubbed The Rose.

Peel Regional Police are investigating the attempted removal of the city’s $100,000 baby grand piano from the Rose Theatre Friday.
Police are investigating the complaint filed by the City of Brampton after a moving truck arrived at the theatre Friday morning. Movers showed staff a BSO-board signed authorization that they were to remove the valuable nine-foot Steinway for “service and repairs”, something that has never happened in the seven years it has been in place, according to the city.
The struggling Brampton Symphony Orchestra (BSO) has declared the piano belongs to them, and a representative arrived at the theatre with what he said was the basis for that claim— just one day before rival symphony the Rose Orchestra (RO) was to use the piano in a major performance at The Rose.
“It’s a fact that the piano was originally purchased for us, it’s one of our assets,” BSO vice-president Arthur Downes, of Toronto, told the Toronto Star Friday.
“We’re not going to make a big fight out of this,” Downes told the Star. “The board will move forthrightly to make sure we have care, control and custody of our assets.”
Reached Tuesday, Downes said he could not discuss why the BSO thinks the piano is theirs now that a police investigation is underway.
“I don’t know why the police were called,” he said. “Whatever they feel does the job for them, I don’t have a real problem with it because that is called ‘city’ and they do what they have to do,” he said, adding he wants the police to share their findings with the BSO.
However, he also said he was surprised the police were called, characterizing it as the city “cranking up the police department”.
He suggested the issue of ownership could have been dealt with between lawyers, or in an arbitration/mediation approach.
“That’s the civil approach. When my lawyer calls your lawyer, and you sit at a table and you work it through. When you say a crime has been committed, there’s not much for me to say.”
The BSO’s sudden ownership claim has been contradicted by, among other things, an official receipt obtained by The Guardian.
The City of Brampton “official receipt” shows proceeds from the Mayor’s Gala totalling $100,000 were paid to the city in May 2005 to purchase the piano “for the Performing Arts Centre”, the name of the venue before it was re-dubbed The Rose.
When asked if the BSO has a receipt for the piano, Downes replied, “I don’t know. I cannot honestly answer that question.”
“What we did at a corporate level is what we thought we should do, and if the city wants to have an investigation, I think that’s fine, maybe they think that’s due diligence on their part, then let’s see what the police say. But a receipt is not always a receipt.”
Other references uncovered by The Guardian clearly state the piano belongs to the city, including a city staff report in 2009, and it was played publicly for the first time by Diana Krall at the official opening of the theatre in 2006.
But it appears it was a line in the city’s Integrity Commissioner report last month on a complaint from the BSO about the Mayor’s Gala that prompted the BSO to declare the valuable instrument belongs to them. The report in part states: “Fennell explained that the gala began as a one-off event in 2005. The funds raised in 2005 were used to purchase a piano for the BSO.”
However, a 2011 Integrity Commissioner’s report stated: ““Examples of beneficiaries of the proceeds from the Gala include: a piano for the Rose Theatre (2005)...”
City spokesperson Gordon Smith clarified the issue.
“The City of Brampton owns the grand piano. It was purchased by the city, with the cost being covered by the Mayor’s Gala as a gift in May 2005,” he said in a statement.
“While the Brampton Symphony Orchestra (BSO) has been the beneficiary in the use of the piano, the BSO does not actually own it nor has exclusive rights for its use. Other performers have used the piano at the Rose Theatre, with Diana Krall being the first person to publicly play the piano at the theatre’s opening in September 2006.”
It isn’t the only Steinway the Mayor’s Gala has bought for the Rose. A few years later, the Gala gave the city money to buy a Boston Steinway for the rehearsal hall.
The Gala also bought other instruments and music stands for the Rose Theatre, for users of the theatre, according to the Gala’s donation lists.
The removal of the piano that day would have impacted the Rose Orchestra, which needed the baby grand for its performance the very next night.
“It was part of the equipment that we had engaged to rent from the theatre. It was needed,” said Shane Wieler, Rose Orchestra spokesperson.
He said the RO would have had to bring in a piano to replace it.
“It was used fairly regularly throughout the performance,” he said, noting close to 500 people attended the successful show.
The city allayed some concerns circulating that the piano had been damaged. It was on blocks Saturday night only because the “dolly” on which it is moved around and normally sits on is well past its life span and is going to be replaced this year, according to Smith. The piano is fine.
The city has purchased “assets” to be used by other groups in the city, such as the indoor carpet bought for the Excelsiors at the Powerade Centre, but their ownership does not revert to the group using them. The assets are bought “for their use”, one city official explained.